[Illustration:  Fig. 145.—­Olifant, or Hunting-horn, in Ivory (Fourteenth Century).—­From an Original existing in England.]

It was customary for gentlemen of all classes, whether sportsmen or not, to possess birds of some kind, “to keep up their rank,” as the saying then was.  Only the richest nobles, however, were expected to keep a regular falconry, that is, a collection of birds suited for taking all kinds of game, such as the hare, the kite, the heron, &c., as each sport not only required special birds, but a particular and distinctive retinue and establishment.

[Illustration:  Fig. 146.—­Details Hunting-horn of the Fourteenth Century.—­From the Original in an English Collection.]

Besides the cost of falcons, which was often very great (for they were brought from the most distant countries, such as Sweden, Iceland, Turkey, and Morocco), their rearing and training involved considerable outlay, as may be more readily understood from the illustrations (Figs. 148 to 155), showing some of the principal details of the long and difficult education which had to be given them.

To succeed in making the falcon obey the whistle, the voice, and the signs of the falconer was the highest aim of the art, and it was only by the exercise of much patience that the desired resuit was obtained.  All birds of prey, when used for sport, received the generic name of falcon; and amongst them were to be found the gerfalcon, the saker-hawk, the lanner, the merlin, and the sparrow-hawk.  The male birds were smaller than the females, and were called tiercelet—­this name, however, more particularly applied to the gosshawk or the largest kind of male hawk, whereas the males of the above mentioned were called laneret, sacret, emouchet. Generally the male birds were used for partridges and quail, and the female birds for the hare, the heron, and crane. Oiseaux de poing, or hand-birds, was the name given to the gosshawk, common hawk, the gerfalcon, and the merlin, because they returned to the hand of their master after having pursued game.  The lanner, sparrow-hawk, and saker-hawk were called oiseaux de leure, from the fact that it was always necessary to entice them back again.

[Illustration:  Fig. 147.—­A Noble of Provence (Fifteenth Century).—­Bonnart’s “Costumes from the Tenth to the Sixteenth Century.”]

The lure was an imitation of a bird, made of red cloth, that it might be more easily seen from a distance.  It was stuffed so that the falcon could settle easily on it, and furnished with the wings of a partridge, duck, or heron, according to circumstances.  The falconer swung his mock bird like a sling, and whistled as he did so, and the falcon, accustomed to find a piece of flesh attached to the lure, flew down in order to obtain it, and was thus secured.

[Illustration:  Fig. 148.—­King Modus teaching the Art of Falconry.—­Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript of “Livre du Roy Modus” (Fourteenth Century).]